Highfell: The Drifting Dungeon

As the white glow of the Akhosian Dragonfire fades, you find yourself standing within a stone henge, almost identical to the one at the foot of Mt Dwimmerhorn. A cool wind whips at your clothes. Fluffy white clouds scud across a blue sky, the Sun shining bright. Nearby to the west the land drops away precipitously - you are on a flying island, drifting over a flat landscape of shining white - the Great Salt Flats. To the east, tumbled and overgrown ruins, dotted with the dark bulwarks of Mage towers, rise towards a central hill, from which bright streams flow, falling over the edge of the island in tumbling torrents. Atop the distant peak you can make out a large pyramid, perhaps a citadel. The nearest Mage tower is a hundred yards or so from the Henge, its broken doors yawning open.

Long long ago, a group of seven elven Magi dedicated to Ord, God of Magic (perhaps fleeing the destruction of Tosasth, ca 2800 BCCC) were drawn to a nexus of magical power located on a tall mountain, called the Dwimmerhorn. Exploration of the Dwimmerhorn revealed three henge gates, apparently constructed by the Dragonborn of Akhosia (Akhosia fell ca 2500 BCCC to the Rain of Glorious Doomfire). Through study the elves harnessed the nexus (or so they thought), and built mage towers and spires in order to study the phenomena. Centuries later (ca 3600 BCCC) they also invited human wizards of the young Empire of Nerath to join them, and together they created a magic school high atop the cold and remote Dwimmerhorn Mountain. For generations Highfell wizards both human and elven recruited promising young adepts, and brought them to the school as apprentices – it was a great honour for one’s son or daughter to receive an invitation to Highfell. After the Fall of Nerath (4200 BCCC), most of the surviving mages left Highfell, and those few who stayed took fewer and fewer apprentices. Highfell, once the epicenter of magical study, was abandoned. Towers collapsed, ruins became overgrown, and the site was lost. As the enchanted wards failed, monsters, once kept at bay by the power of the mages, occupied the caves, holes, and hovels. Adventurers too began to explore the remains.

On the sixth minute, of the sixth hour, of the sixth day of the new year 4454 BCCC, people staying at the nearby Mountaintop Inn saw an eerie green light emanate from the ruins high atop the Dwimmerhorn. The intensity of the light grew until an explosion rocked the great peak. Highfell pulled away from the mountain, and now drifts slowly – and occasionally phases in and out of place – over the Great Salt Flat of the Southern Reaches. 

Note: The Mages of Highfell were known to use the mystical Amulets of Ord to activate ancient Akhosian Henge Gates scattered throughout the mountains and beyond. These would give access to matching Gates atop Highfell. One such Gate lies at the foot of the Dwimmerhorn, near Mountaintop Inn.

West Highfell

Towers of Magic

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East Highfell

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Adventurers